Help, I'm considering weaning at 12 months but don't want to

this will be short because i'm sick right now, but i need advice. i get very sick at least once a month, recently more, with mastitis, almost always the same duct backing up to my upper chest, high fever, aches, chills, the works. cabbage leaves, scalding baths, castor oil compresses, painful massage, lots of multi-position nursing until the plug comes out and i recover. but i get so sick that i can't care for the kids, so my husband's work is beginning to be affected. today while so sick i thought, i can't believe *i* am considering this, but i wonder how soon i could transition baby to cow's milk, because i can't keep getting this sick whenever i've had a virus or some stress or not enough sleep (my plugged duct triggers).

i'm a little early to post here because her 1st birthday isn't for 5 more days but i do WANT to continue nursing her - i wanted to let her nurse as long as she wanted to.

i got mastitis with my older daughter too, but maybe twice a year, nothing like this. nursed until she was 25 months old. the difference, i think, is that this baby is a one-sided nurser, so the one breast she uses is making twice as much milk as last time.

Re: Help, I'm considering weaning at 12 months but don't wan

Sorry to hear you are sick right now... and have been so ill.... I know you're a plugged duct expert based on some of your previous posts! Are you at home with your LO? How frequently is LO nursing? I ask because at least for me, the best defense against plugs is frequent emptying of the breast. I wonder, if LO is sometimes having long stretches without nursing, whether you could do some prophylactic hand compressions or manual pumping - something not too stimulatory - to help keep the breast empty? In my case, I had one plugged duct until LO turned one, then I pump weaned (I work full time), then started getting lots of plugged ducts. So now I'm just trying to be more attentive to what's going on with my breasts during the day, and pumping a little if they start getting too full.

Re: Help, I'm considering weaning at 12 months but don't wan

Thanks bfwmomof3! I hadn't looked into sunflower lecithin yet and wasn't sure if it would be readily available, but I'm so glad it is. Thanks so much for that link. I will look at my local health food stores first but I'm definitely going to give lecithin a try.

Yes, I'm at home with the kids. She nurses quite frequently, I would say most every hour, though not a huge nurse every hour. I guess she doesn't completely drain it very frequently - just kind of nurses a bit on-the-go all day, with big nurses first thing in the morning, to go down for 1 or 2 naps, and at bedtime. And lots of nursing overnight. I don't have a pump, but if it came to that I could get one. I am pretty good at hand-expression too. I am hoping that lecithin will keep things running more smoothly, because honestly it comes on so fast that by the time I realize there's a lump, it's almost too late to do anything but crash and do all my little tricks and then recover.

Re: Help, I'm considering weaning at 12 months but don't wan

I've only had antibiotics for it once, the very first time I had it with my first daughter at 3 weeks old when I wound up in hospital with it, so almost 4 years ago. It was IV antibiotics and I don't know what type. Since then the only abx I've had are IV abx during the birth of my second, a year ago.

Re: Help, I'm considering weaning at 12 months but don't wan

If you are getting mastitis so frequently, I wonder if you have some kind of bacteria that is not quite clearing out each month? Can you visit your doc and have a breastmilk culture done (next time you get sick) to see if there's a bug in there? If they do find something like staph, it requires specific antibiotics b/c it is resistant--I've taken clindamycin several times for mastitis due to staph.

Also, what kind of bra are you wearing? I find that I get plugs on my right breast a lot when I wear bras that fit tighter. Unfortunately, the bra that my breast likes is a little too big and makes me look saggy, so it's my "stay-at-home" or grocery store bra. When I need to go out and look somewhat decent, I use the tighter fitting bra, though it often results in a plugged nipple pore. If you haven't already, you may want to try going braless for awhile and see if that makes a difference.

Do try the sunflower lecithin. I also read somewhere that loads of Vitamin C will help--it certainly can't hurt to try!

For cow's milk, the general advice is 12 months, so you could try to wean, but do it very slowly or the plugs and engorgement will appear. My LO is 13 months and he doesn't seem to drink the cow's milk with as much enthusiasm as breastmilk (I have a big freezer stash that I'm now using with his meals so he learns to drink milk out of a cup with dinner). Sometimes I mix them together to "introduce" the taste to him. My husbands says the wholemilk and breastmilk taste the same, but my little guy can tell the difference!

Re: Help, I'm considering weaning at 12 months but don't wan

Thanks andie, good thought. I'd never thought of asking to get a culture done in case it's recurring because of a bacteria hanging around. It only happens when I have been sick, stressed, or extremely overtired, but I suppose it's still possible that it's the bacteria hanging around as the root cause. Next time I get sick I'll call my doctor to ask if I can do that.

Went out and bought sunflower lecithin and started taking it today! And I also did buy some vitamin C. I forgot to post originally that I start taking apple cider vinegar and echinacea tincture and drinking lots of water when I feel it coming on as well.

I'm wearing Bravado nursing bras, 3 out of 5 of which are actually a size too big, but even the right-sized ones aren't too tight I don't think. Sometimes I go braless at night, but then I need a cloth diaper in my shirt because I leak so much. But maybe I should do that every night.

Re: Help, I'm considering weaning at 12 months but don't wan

Thanks for the great link, lllmeg. That was super helpful and gave me several new ideas.

I should probably ditch the nighttime shirt or nightie entirely, but I get a bit too cold in the shoulders then! (We cosleep and I have to keep the blankets down so they're away from baby's face.) They're pretty loose, so I think I'm OK there though.

I did talk to my local LLL leader and she recommended a certain breastfeeding specialist MD, so hopefully I can talk to her office tomorrow morning and see how soon I can get an appointment. It just keeps coming back - as soon as I get rid of one lump another one or two pop up. Today there was an awful one way up in my armpit. We're going to have to hire a full-time babysitter for the next few days I think, because I can't be up and around much. Apparently I might be able to have an ultrasound to see if that will show what the problem might be.

I'll keep you posted in case this helps anyone else Thanks again mamas!